Ag News: Negotiating Objectives for Japan

**The Trump administration will hold a hearing in December to work on negotiating objectives for a trade deal between the U.S. and Japan.

According to agnetwest.com, the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office is seeking public comment, specifically on product-specific negotiating objectives, trade barriers, economics, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, and on measures or practices that undermine fair market opportunities for U.S. businesses, workers, farmers, and ranchers.

The public comment deadline is November 26th with a hearing scheduled for December 10th.

**Our always “social” President Trump tweeted again, this time about a “a long and very good conversation” with Chinese President Xi Jinping dealing with trade and other matters ahead of their highly anticipated meeting this month.

According to agweb.com, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow says the pair may be able to break the logjam on issues between the two countries during their meetings at

the G-20 summit.

The President’s posture toward China is being closely watched by investors looking for the possibility of cooling tensions between the world’s top economies.

**A bipartisan letter submitted to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration by members of Congress supports a petition that would exempt livestock haulers from certain provisions of Hours of Service rules.

The letter was signed by 59 members of the House of Representatives.

The petition asks for additional hours of drive time for livestock haulers to give more flexibility during long, cross country hauls.